Casting caution to the wind aboard Coworking Catamaran Coboat

When I happened upon the innovative Coboat concept a few months ago, reading about the founders’ vision to create their dream coworking catamaran, it nabbed my attention – hook, line and sinker.

(No apologies for cramming as many sea-related idioms as I can into this story.)

So, when I caught wind of the fact that the Coboat crew was heading to the Mediterranean to launch a trial run commencing in Greece, I knew we had to get onboard.

We were curious to find out what it’s actually like to co-live, co-work and play on a boat for week as it sails from destination to destination.

The aim is to draw creative inspiration from the endless blue, discuss ideas, deliver pitches and receive feedback and network in a relaxed environment, all the while remaining in touch with clients, colleagues and collaborators via a speedy internet connection.

The fact that the space is a catamaran makes it a unique remote working experience that sets itself apart from the coworking retreats, projects and “workations” that have sprung up in buzzing cities like Barcelona and exotic locales like Ubud.

Carlo and I are salty dogs to the core, so we knew that we would be in our element on Coboat.

We’ve been meddling about in motor boats and yachts, surf skis and kayaks, rafts and canoes, and anything else that floats since we were months old.

Carlo grew up boating on the White Nile, diving the Red Sea and sailing off Italy and Greece.

I was born on a big island – Australia – to parents who hail from the tiny isle of Agios Efstratios, a rocky speck in Greece’s northeast Aegean. All my life, I’ve lived near the sea, and can’t fathom what it’s like not to be able to run down to the beach whenever I want.

Saltwater courses through our veins, so we feel most exhilarated when we’re in or on the sea.

Helen and Carlo Trampolining

Perhaps, the ebb and flow of the sea prompts flexibility in our thought patterns, impacting us in ways that researchers are only just starting to investigate.

Researchers like marine biologist Wallace J. Nichols, author of New York Times best-seller Blue Mind, have found that simply looking at the sea and horizon – this binary beauty of nature – can help us blow away the brain fog. Bodies of water stimulate fresh neural connections, which may help us to view a situation from a different perspective.

‘It looks great, but do you actually get work done?’

This question was posed to us on social media.

Sure, there are fun and games, and swimming often involves a ride on Uni. In fact, Uni played an instrumental role in a covert Coboat mission involving Coboat stickers and a mega-yacht off the Ionian isle of Ithaca.

For most Coboaters, work was not only possible but necessary, though not in the way you might conduct it in your office at work or at home, or even in a regular co-working space.

If you’re thinking that you’re going to whip out your laptop and sit in a corner to work on your own for hours at a time, you’re missing the whole point of Coboat.

You will be able to log onto your laptop and work in peace, particularly during long stretches of sailing to the next stop, and when seas are calm. This is an opportune time to make notes about your experience, email or Skype a client, or prepare your presentation to fellow Coboaters.

But the point is to remove you from your normal working space to a space where you may feel as if there are no limits to your imagination. A place where you might feel you can make brave decisions that you wouldn’t make on land, perhaps in the rigid environment and mindset of an office.

The aim is for you to experience a new environment with new people. To help your mind foster new ideas and disrupt your mind space, but also switch off completely and contemplate in peace.